President Donald Trump announced early Saturday morning that the US carried out a “large scale strike against Venezuela” and that President Nicolas Maduro and his wife have been captured and removed from the country.
“The United States of America has successfully carried out a large scale strike against Venezuela and its leader, President Nicolás Maduro, who has been, along with his wife, captured and flown out of the Country,” he wrote on Truth Social.
A CNN team witnessed several explosions and heard the sounds of aircraft early Saturday in the Venezuelan capital Caracas, and reported that some areas of the city were without electricity.
The first blast was recorded at approximately 1:50 a.m. local time (12:50 a.m. ET).
Several areas of the city were without power and journalists in the Venezuelan capital could hear sound of aircraft after the explosions.
In recent weeks, Trump had repeatedly warned that the US is preparing to take new action against alleged drug trafficking networks in Venezuela and that strikes on land will start “soon.”
Trump’s pressure campaign on Maduro has included strikes destroying more than 30 boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean in what the US has described as a counter-narcotics campaign. Trump last month ordered a blockade of sanctioned oil tankers coming to and leaving Venezuela.
The CIA carried out a drone strike in December on a port facility on the coast of Venezuela, marking the first known US attack on a target inside that country.
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